


Is there Honey Still for Tea

by eleanorb



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-16
Updated: 2012-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-31 07:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/341296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eleanorb/pseuds/eleanorb





	Is there Honey Still for Tea

The first time they meet it's over tea and cucumber sandwiches at the Dorchester. She's looking for advice on the Blinovitch Limitation Effect and he's happy to take a trip up to the City, to still be relevant, especially if he gets to meet the Doctor's latest protégé.

She expects to be overawed by the legendary Brigadier; a man who gossip attests is a cross between James Bond and Lawrence of Arabia, but greater than both. What she doesn't expect is to be charmed by gentleman with a twinkle in his eye and an amazing, if not always entirely truthful, story for every occasion.

As the afternoon wears on she realises he understands what she's going through, what she's been through, more than anyone else she knows. He's old school UNIT, not hidebound by political niceties and barely controllable allies. UNIT before Earth's obsession with terrorism gave them their very own demons. He's a man she can trust.

Tea at the Dorchester once a month turns into fortnightly meetings in 'less stuck up'(her) and 'less likely to be bugged'(him) locations, where the tea is served in striped mugs and the man with the crew cut behind the counter doesn’t bother them, even if they take an hour or two without buying another. He tells her about 'his' Doctor with an almost childlike enthusiasm, smiling when she does the same.

Somewhere along the line The Brigadier and Miss Jones become Alistair and Martha. The meetings become less formal. They both find themselves laughing more than they have in years, and crying on occasion too.

A sprained ankle on his part, moss covered steps which should have been cleared long before, mean they meet at his country house, just as spring turns to summer. A tiny Queen Anne masterpiece with honeyed walls and a long gravel drive. She only has eyes for the garden, picture perfect, with sweet smelling old roses and a stone seat tucked away in a hidden arbour.

That's where he first kisses her. Hand soft on her cheek. Hesitant at first, as if believes he has no right. As if he, of all people, fears rejection.

She smiles, her brown eyes soft and warm in the late afternoon sunlight. A bee buzzes, drowsily before settling into the soft bed of a half-open bloom and she draws him into a second, more passionate kiss.


End file.
